Iowa football: Can Shaun Beyer be a 2020 NFL Draft prospect?

The Iowa football season is months away, but Shaun Beyer is clearly the frontrunner to assume the starting TE role. Could he break out in a big way?

With TJ Hockenson and Noah Fant both in the NFL, the Iowa football team has to find a way to replace that production. While not all of that production is going to come from an inexperienced tight end group, there is a reason to believe that one current Hawkeye tight end has the potential to break out much like Hockenson did this past season.

His name is Shaun Beyer.

Beyer came to the Iowa football program as a 6’5” 200-pound athlete and after a failed attempt at wide receiver and a little bit of weight gain, he is now the leading candidate to start at tight end with Drew Cook and Nate Wieting behind him still battling.

Interestingly enough, Beyer was a part of that original recruiting class that included Fant and Hockenson but because of injuries, a need for more developmental work, and being stuck behind two All-American tight ends, he has yet to produce much.

In fact, he has zero catches for zero yards.

As we’ve seen in recent history, however, all it takes is one season to shine. Hockenson came into his redshirt sophomore season with 24 catches for 320 yards and a year later left the Iowa football program as the 8th overall draft pick.

Hockenson’s rise is nothing short of astronomical, but if Beyer can stay healthy, it’s not unrealistic to be talking about him as a possible draft prospect at the conclusion of the 2019 Iowa football season.

George Kittle’s emergence as an elite tight end in the NFL and both Iowa football tight ends going in the first round have clearly made the University of Iowa Tight End U. This means scouts are not going to be sleeping on tight end prospects out of Iowa anymore. Nobody wants to miss the next Kittle, Hockenson, or Fant.

This is a perfect scenario for Beyer who has anxiously awaited his chance with the Hawks. With a senior quarterback under center who loves to throw to the tight end position and an offensive coordinator who has thrived with two tight end sets, Beyer has the chance to be the next great Iowa football tight end.